a bleeding purple utah jazz blog

Leftovers…

Alec Burks’ Situation**Tyrone Corbin on Burks not getting in the game, 10/31: Just the way the game flowed. I mean, it’s gonna be a tough situation for a lot of guys different nights…It’s tough to get them all minutes on the floor some nights, but we just expect them to stay together and continue to play, and it’s gonna be on me and the coaching staff to try and get them in the game.

**Tyrone Corbin on Burks not getting in the game, 11/1: It’s one game. It’s one game. You know, we’ll see where it goes. Alec has worked his butt off to deserve minutes on the floor…it’s a long season, and we have to continue to work and we’ll try and find time as much as we can for everybody. (KALL)

**Tyrone Corbin on finding minutes for Burks, 11/5: He deserves to play, bottom line. He deserves to play against anybody. Have to find ways to get him on the floor. (SLT)

**Sidney Lowe on Burks, 11/6: He has to continue to learn, and learn the game. Learn the game itself. Just little small things, that’s where he’s a little behind, but he’s working with it every day. I love the fact that he asks questions. That’s a great sign. But he’s gonna be fine. And then to continue to work hard. That’s the other key to this thing, is to work hard every single second that he’s out there on the floor. (1280)

**Mike Sanders on Burks, 11/20: I think Alec is, you know, just need to, you know, continue to play hard the way he doing in practice, and, you know, continue to grow. You know, it’s a lot of people that’s really ahead of Alec though. Alec is kind of, you know, in a tough position, but you know, he’s doing a great job in terms of keeping his attitude, and you know, staying ready. (1280)

Rookie hazingEnes Kanter on hazing Kevin Murphy: He doesn’t have a pink backpack. You know, he’s just a normal veterans. He doesn’t have a pink backpack yet…I think when the time come, that they’re gonna treat him like rookie…He doesn’t even have to bring donuts yet… I kick the ball sometime, I say, “Go get, rook!” because that’s what they did to me last year. (KALL)

Bruce Bowen on Jerry Sloan
What goes into the great teams that Utah had in the past, and I think one of the biggest things, that starts at the head coaching position. Mr. Sloan — I call him “Mr. Sloan,” because of what he was able to do for that organization. And you just saw professionalism there, year in, year out. And Ty Corbin right now, he has a big job. Those footsteps, I don’t know if anybody can fill those footsteps, because the steps are so huge, let alone the shoes. (KALL)

Paul Millsap’s adjustment to playing more small forward**Nov. 17: “I didn’t feel too comfortable with it tonight,” Paul Millsap said. “I’m not going to lie.” (SLT)**Nov. 19, Millsap: I’m trying to figure that out. I don’t want to put too much thought into it. Just get out there and play, really. It’s a different feeling with starting at the 3, than opposed to getting your rhythm, getting warmed up, and then moving out there. It’s different, but it’s nothing I can’t overcome. (KALL)**Nov. 21: “I expected it at some point,” said Millsap, who has had two of his three lowest scoring nights since the switch [to the big lineup], “but not this early. If I would have known that it was going to happen I probably would have got out there and practiced, tried to get out there and work on it.” (SLT)**Nov. 24, Corbin on Millsap, post-game: As long as he continue to work and try and stay as focused as he can on staying aggressive and not feeling sorry for himself, he’ll be fine.

Couple of quotes from Mike Sanders**On the team’s “toughness quotient”: I think we’re very tough, you know, when we put our minds to it, you know, come out and, you know, get into people, you know, particularly on the defensive end. I think we definite as tough as it gets.**On Corbin: Ty, you gotta watch him. Sometime when in a meeting and someone say something and then you know, it may sound, you know, too farfetched to him, he will throw…a joke in there. So you know, we have to be on guard for that. (both 1280)

Happy campers**Gordon Hayward on coming off the bench: Whatever the coach wants us to do, is what I’m going to do. As long as we get wins, that’s what it’s all about. (KALL)**Derrick Favors on starting: I just do whatever coach need me to do. He want me to be in the starting lineup, bring some energy or whatever, so, you know, that’s what I do. (KALL)**Randy Foye on coming off the bench: My whole career, I started. But when I signed here, we talked about it and I accepted that role…it’s the same, man, for me. It’s just all about just going out there and giving the effort, play hard. (Utah Jazz)**Jamaal Tinsley: I can’t control who they play over me or how many minutes I get in. But I always can control about going out there, playing hard, playing the right way, and just trying to help this ball club get a victory. (1280)

Not-so-happy camper?Earl Watson after his first game back, 11/23:** “It’s not my call not to play extended minutes,” he said. “I don’t know who it’s coming from. I was just got told my minutes would be 10 minutes. As far as physically, I feel like I can play more because I practice.”** “I threw the [alley-oop] pass really high, Gordon did a good job of going to get it. That was when I really felt comfortable, but at that time my 10 minutes was up. So I was out.” (SLT)

Due to Mo Williams’ sprained ankle forefoot, Earl played 17 minutes in his second game back. It’ll be interesting to see what happens with Earl once Mo returns, and (in light of his comments last year about he’d have to talk to his agent and how it was too bad his demotion happened after the trade deadline) how he’d take it if Corbin opts to go with Tinsley as the first point guard off the bench.

It really looks like the excess of above average players is hurting the team. It’s hard to see how to make it work this way, because even if guys’ attitudes are great (which they seem to have been), guys seem to be unsure of their roles each night and play hesitantly instead of aggresively….